


No Place to Call Home

by Hock_hug



Series: 52 Weeks of Hockey [17]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst, M/M, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 22:53:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17414069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hock_hug/pseuds/Hock_hug
Summary: He should've seen it coming





	No Place to Call Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mari999](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mari999/gifts).



God, he should’ve seen it coming. Auston stopped texting him every day weeks ago, but he was always on his phone, smiling down at the screen. He barely made eye contact anymore, it felt like he could barely be around Mitch. Mitch had confronted him about it, of course, what else was he supposed to do? 

The first time, Auston had brushed it off as mid-season stress, and Mitch got that. They were fighting for a playoffs spot, and it was stressing him out too, but it just made him want to be around Auston more. Maybe they just reacted differently, they were different people after all. 

The second time, Auston had acted like everything was fine, and Mitch believed him. Mitch was prone to reading too far into situations anyways, Auston was probably just getting sick of how clingy he could be. It didn't make the distance he put between them any less painful, though. 

The third time, Mitch couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down his face. It was after Connor showed him the pictures, tears in his eyes and pain in his voice as he explained what he’d seen, what Auston had told Freddie, what Zack saw on her private Instagram. Connor had stayed with him that night (he had stopped hoping that Auston would come home at night), and Hymie and Naz joined them. Naz wrapped him in blankets and Zack made him tea after Connor practically carried him to the shower. Mitch had never known heartbreak like this, he had never known pain like this. He could handle being checked into the boards, he could handle getting his ass handed to him by someone with six inches and thirty pounds on him, but he couldn’t handle this heartbreak. 

The third time, Auston must’ve known that he’d figured it out, because he didn’t even bother to deny it. He begged Mitch to forgive him, told him that it was only when he was drunk (why did he drink with her again, then? Why did he keep going to her place? Did they always go to her place or did he bring her to their house? Did he-) and that he never meant it, it never meant anything when it was with her, but Mitch barely heard any of it. He knew he was sobbing, hyperventilating, really, and he knew that he still loved Auston. He knew that his heart still belonged to the man in front of him even though he was the one that shattered it, and he knew what he had to do.

He moved out the next day, crashed at Naz’s place. Naz didn’t mind, he said it was easier to keep an eye on him when he was close. In the locker room, Willy put himself between the two of them whenever he could, and when he couldn’t someone else did. Mitch just kept on playing hockey, and when they got knocked out of the playoffs he barely felt it. In fact, the only thing he felt was relief. Naz asked him if he was sure as he packed all of his stuff up, as if he had another choice. The headlines were everywhere, he couldn’t turn back now. 

Matt and Sydney picked him up from the airport. Matt wrapped him in a hug so tight that he couldn’t breath and Sydney kissed his cheek. He didn’t look as good in orange and blue as he did in blue and white, but it would have to do.


End file.
